1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in line processing system such as inline vacuum processing system for processing groups of substrates. Specifically the invention relates to a transport system for transporting the substrates between a plurality of independent isolated chambers so as to provide for the inline processing of the substrates in each chamber as the substrates are transported between the independent chambers. After the transport of the substrates to the chambers, each chamber may be operated independently to process the substrates so as to provide for a substantially continuous feedthrough of the substrates from a first chamber to an end chamber. The invention may also be operated on a batch rather than continuous basis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, prior art processing systems operate on a single group of substrate material and with the processing of the single group of substrate material completed before a new group of substrate material is processed. This, for example, may be accomplished in a number ways. In a first technique, substrate material may be loaded into a large processing chamber, such as a vacuum chamber, which has a plurality of separate stations within the same chamber. Once the substrate material has been loaded into the first station position, the chamber is evacuated and the substrate material is moved from station to station within the evacuated chamber to complete the processing.
When the processing is complete the vacuum is released and the chamber may be opened to remove the processed substrate material. A new group of substrate material may then be loaded for processing. The above described prior art system does not allow for isolation between the various process stations within the chamber. In addition, the chamber must be opened and closed each time it is necessary to unload the processed substrate material and load unprocessed substrate material so that the system cannot provide for a continuous operation and thereby speed up the processing.
Another type of prior art system does include a number of inline chambers each isolated from the other and with the substrate material to be processed loaded into a first chamber and with the substrate material then transported from the first chamber through subsequent chambers for processing within each chamber. Typically, once the processing has been completed in the last chamber, the substrate material is then brought back through all of the intermediate chambers to be unloaded. The transport mechanism between the individual chambers is a single transport mechanism and only a single group of substrate material may be processed at one time. This type of prior system operates only on a single group of substrate material, even though the substrate material is processed in separate chambers. Again, this type of processing system is relatively slow because only single group of substrate material may be processed in each complete cycle of the processing system.
In addition to the above deficiencies, the prior art systems described above can allow for contamination of the processed material during processing. This is due to the necessity of opening and closing the chamber for each single group of substrate material that is being processed. Although the second type of system is an inline system and does have isolation between individual chambers, still after the processing of each single group of substrate material, the system must be opened to the atmosphere.
The prior art processing systems, therefore, are relatively slow in operation and do not allow for a continuous throughput of the processing of groups of substrates or even the processing of batches of groups of substrates. Additionally, individual groups may become contaminated because of the constant need to expose the chambers to atmospheric conditions during the loading and unloading of each group of substrates. It is, therefore, desirable to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art systems and provide for a more continuous operation of the processing system to allow for a substantially continuous flow or at least a processing of batches of groups of substrates. In this way, a more efficient operation can be achieved and with a lesser exposure to possible contamination caused by the constant opening and closing of the prior art systems during loading and unloading.